please empty your brain below
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Meanwhile, aside from TfL’s ‘world beating’ app many nationwide bus companies are now providing details of how busy each bus is in real time “to encourage travel at quieter times”.
Roger French | Homepage | 05.08.20 - 7:37 a.m. | #
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You said that the cycle directions don't show distance, but it appears to be listed in your second set of screenshots.
dg writes: When walking and cycling are suggested, no mileage appears.
The app looks like a decent version 1, though as an Android user I've no way of trying it out yet.
martin | 05.08.20 - 7:42 a.m. | #
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I know citymapper cover the entirety of Switzerland and the Netherlands these days. Although to be fair their public transport systems and much more joined up and their land areas much smaller. But it can't be long before citymapper crack out a UK wide version of their app, can it? I've always found citymapper to be scarily accurate with walking/cycling times but I'm am old fart and I generally try and get places using the tube map in my head. South London is a different story mind, I have to use citymapper to go to South London!
Daniel | 05.08.20 - 7:55 a.m. | #
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The thing I noticed first was how much faster it is to load than CityMapper. The app is about a tenth of the file size too (23.5MB vs 234.9MB).
Frankie Roberto | 05.08.20 - 7:58 a.m. | #
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Very detailed review.
You mentioned that your unable to see more accessibility information, but if you tap on the station arrivals, it looks like you can tap through to platform information :)
dg writes: Unless I'm tapping in the wrong place, I can't make that work.
infac | 05.08.20 - 8:01 a.m. | #
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Wonder whether the initial walk is mislabelled and includes a waiting allowance based on service frequency.
Also it initially tries to use your current location as start point but found that, if that is deactivated or planning from elsewhere, there is an option to input a start point.
MEL | 05.08.20 - 8:20 a.m. | #
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It's pretty obvious that TFL have gone to the trouble and expense (which they can't afford) of making their own app because they want to put themselves out of business by pushing us towards cycling and walking. Good! I look forward to the airline adverts saying "Is your journey really necessary?"
I wonder where TFL get their cycle routes from - is it Google? I've yet to find a really good cycle route planner for London, as even Google doesn't know the vital details of local information that make the difference between a pleasant route and a really nasty one. For me the best app is usually Cyclestreets.
At least from the screenshot, TFL seem to give a sensible cycling time. Most apps are hopelessly optimistic for London traffic unless you are seriously sporting and don't stop at the lights. But cycling speeds are very varied especially now with ebikes, so you should be able to enter your own speed, or at least choose between leisurely, average or fast.
Tony Woolf | 05.08.20 - 8:50 a.m. | #
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I wonder if this is being put out now due to Citymapper’s current financial woes, and perhaps they weren’t satisfied with the google/Apple maps options.
Theo | 05.08.20 - 8:54 a.m. | #
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I'm in South East London and the results I get are total nonsense. If it takes me 21 minutes to struggle to the bus stop, I can't see myself being able to cycle my full journey in that time. Why does the local hospital of the same name in Edinburgh get priority in the search over the one up the road? Why would I take two buses to the tube when there are three direct services? In fact I'd be better off using National Rail anyway.
Citymapper has become a bloated nuisance sadly so a cleaner app is welcome but this is hopeless for journeys from here.
Ned | 05.08.20 - 8:54 a.m. | #
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Traveline. I know it's not an app, and not very phone friendly. But on the few occasions I have used it on the move, it has given me a full range of choices, and been very accurate.
Malcolm | 05.08.20 - 9:32 a.m. | #
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To get platform accessibility information, tap a station (eg Kings Cross) then tap a platform, then tap “Step free to train” (or similar) to get information such as the platform gap and step height, where available.
Frankie Roberto | 05.08.20 - 9:33 a.m. | #
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Early days. I'm sure it will improve in time, but in the year 2020, I am not sure why it isn't better, and I thought the days of developing for Apple before android had passed.
Andrew | Homepage | 05.08.20 - 9:37 a.m. | #
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In response to Tony Woolf (2nd Uxbridge?), TfL's business is enabling people to move around London in the most effective way. That includes walking/cycling and if people do that - particularly at the moment - it leaves more space on buses and trains for others. That's rather different from an airline, which only has one product.
Andrew S | 05.08.20 - 9:37 a.m. | #
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One major flaw appears to be is that unlike the web version, it doesn’t give times of the underground trains. So if you wanted to travel at a time when trains were less frequent e.g early Sunday morning, you have no idea when the best time to arrive at the station would be, and could end up waiting for quite a long time.
Andrew | 05.08.20 - 9:38 a.m. | #
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About time TfL released their own app.
As commendable as open data is, to be able to gain from your own app the potential journeys people will or are making is valuable data when planning schedules / capacity and ultimately making expenditure more efficient.
Also a nice and simple UI which hopefully the journey suggestions will improve overtime.
Scotty Dog | 05.08.20 - 9:49 a.m. | #
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Nice design; they translated the visual TfL language very well.
For walking options to appear as a blue tile, the threshold seems to be 40mins.
For walking options to appear at the bottom of the list, the threshold seems to be 90mins before walking options are not displayed at all.
The cycling route suggestions need urgent refinement, they are currently pushing cyclists onto busy single-digit A roads instead of using quietways or LCN routes.
I agree with Tony Woolf, Cycle Streets is currently the best option, although Citymapper isn't too bad either.
commonliner | 05.08.20 - 10:47 a.m. | #
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I downloaded this to be able to see the busy times but it seems as though it's not going to be that useful?
Cornish Monkey | 05.08.20 - 11:02 a.m. | #
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Encouraging walking and cycling was a requirement of Government support rather than an act of suicide by TFL,
JohnC | 05.08.20 - 11:39 a.m. | #
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The Caledonian Sleeper leaves Euston at 2115, so the app is correct to say it is faster to change at Crewe.
greatkingrat | 05.08.20 - 11:51 a.m. | #
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Unfortunately there isn’t a bus stop SW at Hatton Cross towards T4. You’d need stop A for bus 482 or 490 although other Surrey routes would allow you on board as part of the Freeflow Heathrow scheme. Oh, and T4 is shut so there’s no point in going there anyway 🙂
Rob Healy | Homepage | 05.08.20 - 11:51 a.m. | #
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I used the app for a couple of hours yesterday.
I have only just noticed, because you've pointed it out, that every station has copious information hidden off screen if you think to scroll down... which I didn't.
Busy times, next trains, step-free platform gaps, the lot. I need a rewrite...
diamond geezer | Homepage | 05.08.20 - 12:06 p.m. | #
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Another report elsewhere that I have seen said that the app does give an indication of busy lines/stations (but not buses?).
The Traveline South East App/Mobile web options are basic and functional, if a little slow (I use them in Norfolk/Suffolk and parts of Herts, being multimodal,although I also consult Movi and Intalink). The App (Android) can be a bit crashy, though, but quick to restart.
MilesT | 05.08.20 - 12:44 p.m. | #
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To be fair to that Caledonian Sleeper example, their suggested version is about an hour quicker. Even if it is a lot less convenient.
Although you will need a reservation.
Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 05.08.20 - 12:45 p.m. | #
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An excellent blog post. I can't help noting though the use of 'TfL are' when with TfL being an organisation and therefore singular, it should be 'TfL is'. Unless, as is the case when the media refer to the police in the plural, the reference is to the staff of TfL and not the organisation.
Stuart P | 05.08.20 - 12:54 p.m. | #
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Best not read back through the last 18 years of blogposts, Stuart, sorry.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 05.08.20 - 1:07 p.m. | #
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Why does the type of wheelchair matter at Hounslow West? (Genuine question - I don’t really know much about disabled access).
dg writes: [photo]
Bob la Roux | 05.08.20 - 4:19 p.m. | #
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Does the app tell you the platform you need when you interchange? I got a bit lost at Canning Town this morning where there are two DFL lines on different levels and the signage at the station was even more confusing. Three sets of escalators later...
davews | 05.08.20 - 6:45 p.m. | #
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" I am not sure why it isn't better, and I thought the days of developing for Apple before android had passed"
This is TFL, they spent 3 years and around £13 000 000 on an internal rostering and coverage app for iPad for staffing which didn't work & ended up scrapped.
mclm | 05.08.20 - 11:52 p.m. | #
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Corporations were traditionally plural if they consisted of more than one member, distinguishing a corporation aggregate, such as TfL,[1] from a corporation sole, such as a bishop.[2] (Of course there may be easier ways of distinguishing TfL from a bishop.) That said, the progressive Greater London Authority Act 1999 went with the singular when establishing TfL,[3] as it did too for the GLA and the London Assembly. But Victorian pluralism enjoyed a revival in the Local Government Act 2000 with “Every local authority are to have power to do anything which they consider…”.[4]
Corporations are people!
Rich G | Homepage | 06.08.20 - 2:41 a.m. | #
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I think a nice feature to have would be
1. Not to auto select your 'home' as a starting point.
2. The cost of journies as we no these can change if you use a naitional rail service that uses oyster sometimes when interconnecting
3. A refund button for when there are delays
Bruce Wayne | 06.08.20 - 6:41 a.m. | #
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Bishops move diagonally. TfL seems to be going sideways.
Ned | 07.08.20 - 12:36 a.m. | #
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"TfL's Journey Planner has always been a blunt instrument when it comes to bus disruption, so this is nothing new"
it's not just bus disruptions, TfL journey planner website doesn't handle tube disruptions well either. Even when a disruption is on a completely different branch of the line you're planning to use !
ADS | Homepage | 09.08.20 - 11:36 a.m. | #
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